T-Paw to Obama: “Uffdah!”

Minnesota guv gives president tutorial on local vernacular in new web video.

Says his visit is “an honor, even if you’re here just for politics … Don’t be a stranger.”

Script:

Welcome back to Minnesota, Mr. President.

Some people think we talk funny here, so I thought I’d help you with some local phrases you might hear.

For example, we say “uffdah.” If you wanted to use it in a sentence, it would be like “You said unemployment would stay below 8 percent and now it’s almost ten — uffdah!”

Also, some Minnesotans don’t like to offend people by coming right out and saying NO, so instead they say “eh, not so much”, like if you asked Minnesotans “Do you like the federal take over of health care?” They might say “eh, not so much.”

And when we’re surprised by something, we say “Yikes!” As in the sentence the “Federal deficit was over a trillion dollars the last two years, and will be next year, too — Yikes!”

I read recently that during your first two years in office, the federal budget increased almost 22 percent. That’s about the same average rate that Minnesota’s budget grew every two years for four decades before I became Governor. It was unsustainable when Minnesota spent that much – and it’s unsustainable now that Washington is.

That’s why, on my watch, we brought the average budget increase down to less than 2 percent annually. This biennium, we actually cut spending for the first time in Minnesota’s history.

It wasn’t easy: We’ve had big fights with the unions to reign in entitlement spending. We passed performance-pay for teachers. We’ve enacted market-based health care reforms, and I said no to every tax increase that crossed my desk.

But if we can control spending in Minnesota — the land of Humphrey, Mondale, Wellstone — and now U.S Senator Al Franken — we should be able to do it in Washington.

Mr. President, thanks for visiting our great state – it is an honor, even if it is just for politics.